Having Fun...Dr. Seuss Style!

Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss books and all the fun rhymes? It makes a perfect theme for a birthday party, graduation party (with Oh, The Places You'll Go), baby shower, and so much more.  These photos are from the March monthly dinner in 2010, but I am seriously thinking about using this theme again sometime.  I may even incorporate some of these ideas into teacher appreciation gifts when my kids are in elementary school.  This theme is so much fun!

Invite:  The wording on your invite should definitely be inspired by Dr. Seuss.  You can easily use lines from his books.  For my invitation, I used some lines from his books mixed with some created by me:

You could not
would not
want to miss
a celebration such as this!

It's...
"Dinner with Dr. Seuss"
Come dressed up for this fun show
in one bold color from head to toe
Tell us in the RSVP what color you'll be
Come on ladies...it's super easy!

A Dr. Seuss dinner can be so much fun
You definitely don't want to miss this one.
One week away, so hurry and reply
That's all I have to say...Good-bye!!

Decor:  I talked to my librarian at work, and she let me borrow several Dr. Seuss stuffed animals to help decorate for this party.  I set the table with a Dr. Seuss hat I bought at the dollar bin at Target flanked by Yertle the Turtle and a Sneech.  I also placed little bowls of multicolored goldfish crackers for guests to munch on before dinner.

I themed each place setting after a Dr. Seuss book.  I printed off 8x10 pictures of the book cover (found on Google), and adhered them to 12x12 scrapbook paper.  I didn't laminate them because I didn't care if they were ruined, but at a kid's birthday party, you could laminate them for kids to take home.  Using my Cricut machine and cardstock, I scrapbooked a  place card to match each book.

I used Dr. Seuss books I checked out from my local library to decorate several side tables with more stuffed characters.  I borrowed a Fox in Socks Dr. Seuss puzzle from my step-daughter to place on my coffee table.

To display my menu without giving away exactly what I was serving, I printed off book covers and taped them to the wall.  Not very sophisticated or cleverly done, but it served its purpose.

Menu:  I don't think you can have a Dr. Seuss party without serving green eggs, so I made deviled eggs and died them green.  One of my friends refuses to eat anything with food coloring in it, so this is why the middle ones in the photo are yellow.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish is one of my daughter's favorite Dr. Seuss books. Everyone loves finger jello...even adults I have come to learn!  I bought a fish cookie cutter from Calico Cake Shop to make these.

As my main dish, I decided to serve Poppy Seed Turnovers, but shape them like turtles for Yertle the Turtle.  Poppy Seed Turnovers are a favorite dish of our family.  I normally shape them into semi-circles, crinkle the edges with a fork, and freeze them for days I don't have a dinner planned.  Making these into turtles was time-consuming, but they received lots of compliments.

Poppy Seed Turnovers

Filling:

1/2 cup minced onions

2 pounds lean ground beef

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon salt

2 (10.5 oz.) cans cream of chicken soup

Crumble Beef in frying pan.  Sprinkle with onions.  Fry over medium heat until beef is cooked, drain off grease into a can. Add other ingredients and cook until liquid is absorbed.  Cool slightly before filling pastries.

Pastry:

4 cups flour

1 cup + 1/3 cup + 1/4 cup shortening

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup cold water

1/4 cup poppy seeds

Combine flour, salt, and poppy seeds in large bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry blender until shortening is the size of small peas.  Sprinkle with water, tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with a fork until flour is moistened.  Gather dough together with fingers to form a lump.  Divide dough into 16 equal pieces.  On a lightly floured board, roll each piece into a circle about the size of a saucer, 1/8" thick.  Place 1/16th of ground beef mixture on half of the circle.  Fold dough over and use a fork to press the semi-circle closed.  Repeat until 16 are made.  At this point, turnovers may be frozen or baked.  Bake in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes (30 minutes if frozen).      

I also served a green salad along with the meal which went with The Lorax book.

For dessert, I made Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes from The Cat in the Hat.  I bought red cupcake holders, and made the signs on card stock.  The cupcakes were really cute, but I had trouble with the cotton candy.  I put it on directly before serving them because the ones I did prior to the party melted.  It didn't last long at all. I think if I were to host this party again, I would copy what Katie from Good Life Eats, Etc. did with her cupcakes....

Favor:  As a small gift to guests, I bought crazy colored socks from the dollar bin at Target and packaged them with a cute rhyme from the Fox in Sox.  This photo was just quickly taken to give you the idea. I forgot to take photos of the actual favor (which were super cute!).

There are so many great ideas for a Dr. Seuss party on the web.  My son is only 8 months, but he may have a Dr. Seuss birthday party in his future...LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!